


Cell Block Tango

by wellthizizdeprezzing



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Humor, Prison AU, Prompt Fic, and flirting in the shower, featuring many tattoos, prison romance, sabrina is a bad cellmate, slight crack, tissaia is gangsta, yennefer joins a gang (don't try this at home), yennefer likes fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24627115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellthizizdeprezzing/pseuds/wellthizizdeprezzing
Summary: Yennefer ends up going to prison after getting a bit too enthusiastic about redesigning real estate practices. There she meets Tissaia, who is apparently in charge of the most dangerous prison gang. She's also very small, but don't ever tell her that to her face because she gets very, very angry.
Relationships: Tissaia de Vries/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Comments: 53
Kudos: 111





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zooeyglasszorba](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zooeyglasszorba/gifts).



“Whatever you do, don't piss Renfri off,” Sabrina warned Yennefer as they waited on line to get their lunch. They slid down like prisoners on a line, which, to be fair, they were. Yennefer hated the color orange. It clashed horribly with her violet eyes.

“Who?” she asks, craning her head none too subtly at a woman sitting down at a partially full table that Sabrina jerks her head at. The woman in question had brown hair, wild around her slender face, tips dyed red. She was currently stabbing into her meat violently with the plastic fork.

She was slender but she had a caged energy around her that clued in to how strong she was. 

“What did she do?” Yennefer asked as she allowed some mashed potatoes to be dropped onto her plate, followed by a slab of meat placed by the lunchlady.

“What didn't she do, is the better question,” Sabrina scoffed. “Seriously don't cross her or the Shirkes.”

“Who?” Yennefer asked again, feeling like an owl.

“Her gang.”

“There's gangs in here?”

Sabrina gives Yennefer a look that indicates that was a dumb question. Yennefer shrugs innocently. “I'm new to all this.”

“Then maybe you shouldn't have committed a crime.”

They go to sit at an empty table.

“You weren't there,” Yennefer said. “You don't know what happened.”

“So, tell me,” Sabrina said, distastefully scooping up the greens on her plate and eating them unhappily.

“This rich guy was being a dick to the town folk, so I burned down his whole estates.”

“Oh, so you like fire _fire_. You one of those,” Sabrina said all knowingly.

Yennefer grunted, hunching down over her meal. It was an old habit from her days of having scoliosis, one she fell into when she fought comfort. She'd outgrown it thanks to a back brace but sometimes she slipped up. She straightened her back. “He owned a lot of land and he was charging people insane prices to live on his places. So I took justice into my own hands. Fire was just the more efficient form of it. They called me the Sorceress of Sodden for it, bloody idiots,” she shook her head in annoyance. “Can you believe the news made me out to be this 'witch' that did it for my own reasons?”

“The media will twist anything,” Sabrina said. “Wanna know what I'm in here for?”

“Sure.” Yennefer realizes she shouldn't have asked when Sabrina answers.

“I bashed my boyfriend's brains in.” She says this without even blinking.

Yennefer sits back a bit. Sabrina rolls her eyes at this reaction. “Oh, please. You burned how many people alive and you're the one scared of me for my one kill?”

“I didn't know they wouldn't be able to escape. The fire spread out of my control!” Yennefer protested.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. “He had it coming. He'd been cheating on me and I got angry at him. We fought, he put his hands on me so I put my hands on him. I used the lamp. Beat him so hard that all the ooze-”

Yennefer pushed away her tray. “I'm not hungry anymore.”

Sabrina chuckled. “Weak.”

“Can we talk about something else?”

“We can talk about joining a gang.”

Yennefer is aghast by Sabrina's casualness relating to all this. “Why would I want to do that?”

“For protection, obviously.”

“But won't they make me do shady shit?”

“Of course they will. But it's worth it. Trust me, you don't want to be on your own out here. They'll eat you alive. Besides, I've scoped out a good gang to join. Once you're in with them, no one messes with them, not even the guards.”

“Is it Renfri's gang?”

Sabrina laughs. It's short, a bark of laughter. “No, it's not. She's small fry in comparison to this gang.”

“Ah, nice. So we're going to join a sociopath's gang?” Yennefer says sarcastically.

“I wouldn't call her that if you value your limbs,” Sabrina warned.

Yennefer let out a huff. “I can't believe I'm going to let you talk me into this.”

“You don't have to follow me. You can just fuck off and do your own thing.”

Yennefer pulled a long face and winced when the bruise she had there flared up. She'd been beat up not more than two days ago for no real reason. She recalled the unprovoked beating by two of the inmates and she really didn't want a repeat of that. She might as well see what this woman had to offer before making her choice.

After lunch, they had outdoor time. The sky was overcast, the atmosphere heavy with ozone. A storm was approaching. “Be cool, and follow my lead,” Sabrina told Yennefer, leading the way through the sea of orange woman either smoking or exercising or posing threateningly.

Yennefer was never quite good with instructions but she figured this might be a good time to learn how to. Her rule bending her gotten her into a lot of trouble.

There's a circle around one of the lunch tables, a varied assortment of women. Instantly they are on guard when Sabrina and Yennefer show up. “What do you want?” one of them, a brunette with hair in pigtails demands, crossing her arms over her chest. Her sleeves are rolled up and Yennefer can make out a owl tattoo on her forearm.

“We're here to speak to Tissaia. We're interested in joining,” Sabrina says, jutting her chin up.

“Oh yea?” challenged the woman.

“Yea,” Sabrina said. “I've killed a man and this chick has a fixation on burning shit down.”

“Burn one building and all of a sudden you're an arsonist,” Yennefer mutters under her breath, annoyed.

“Hm,” the woman grunted and then entered into the tight press of bodies. She emerged a couple seconds later, but it took long enough that Yennefer's hands began to sweat nervously. She wiped them on her pant's legs.

“She said she'll listen,” the woman said when she came back out. The circle parted long enough to swallow them up. Once they were inside the sea of orange, they were invisible from the rest of the play ground.

Sitting on the bench, book in one hand, was a woman. When they came in, she closed the book and stepped down. Yennefer had to look down, and then look down a bit further to met her eyes. This woman was short. She must be barely above five foot two. And she was supposed to be a big deal around here? She looks like was someone who worked white collar. Like a professor or a lawyer. She didn't look at all like she deserved to be in prison. Yennefer wondered what she had done to end up here.

Her eyes are startlingly blue and they met Yennefer's purple ones steadily. “What do you two want?” she asks, voice crisp and proper but filled with annoyance as she tears her eyes away from Yenn to talk to Sabrina who stands in front of Yenn.

“We want to join.”

“And why should I be interested?” Tissaia scoffs.

“We have skill,” Sabrina insists.

“You also must be scared to come to me for protection,” Tissaia deduced. “And what says I'll give it to you?”

“Well,” Sabrina cleared her throat, and her cool was being to fade. “She went all barbecue on some folk's ass and I killed off a bunch of people-”

Yenn's jaw dropped open. “You told me you only killed your boyfriend!”

Sabrina shot her an odd look. “No, I said that's why I was here. I got caught for killing him but not the others.”

Well fuck. Yennefer would not be sleeping at night knowing who her cellmate was.

“I know about you two. I know about everyone here,” Tissaia said, cutting their bantering short. “As I am sure you know that if you want to be indoctrinated, you have to prove yourself to me.”

“I'm ready to do that,” Sabrina agreed.

“You?” Tissaia looked at Yennefer who shrugged. Tissaia quirked her lip at the show of uncertainty but did not comment further on it. 

“Good, I'll find you when I have a job for you.” With that, discussion was ended. Yennefer and Sabrina were let out of the circle.

* * *

It's empty here, except for two people, which Yennefer appreciates. Yennefer's in the shower, the one spot she can relax and be with her very non related fire thoughts- she is not a fire freak like Sabrina likes to tease her about, thank you very much- when someone comes up next to her.

“Yennefer.”

It's quiet but so unexpected that she startles and drops her soap. She looks at it in dismay. There was no way she was picking it up. Dropping the soap in prison...hm. She turned to the woman who had disrupted her and her eyes went wide as saucers. It was Tissaia, naked. And standing close to Yennefer, much closer than she should in these showers.

Oh shit, she's tattooed all over. Yennefer hadn't seen before because her jumper had been zipped up to her neck and her sleeves ran down to her wrists. But now Yennefer can see all of them. They're black and white, crawling over skin in bold lines. Not a single inch is left unadorned. Yennefer ganders at the more prominent tattoos she can spot. Yennefer can make out an eagle on her shoulder, the tip touching Tissaia's collarbone. A star is on her navel. On her arms she's got matching roses that sprawl across her flesh like vines. And was that an eel sliding down her thigh?

“Are you done staring?” Tissaia asks impatiently and Yennefer jolts from her staring.

“I wasn't looking at your tits!” she promises, afraid she's going to be hurt for this. “Just your art!”

“Are you saying my tits aren't a work of art?” Tissaia takes a step forward and Yennefer backs up, slipping on the bar of soap she had dropped before. She lands in an undignified manner on the wet tile floor.

“No, they're nice! They're really nice!” Yennefer protests and looks away, cheeks flaming red. This is so bad. She holds her hands up as if to protect her eyes, because from down here, she's got a better angle on other body parts and she really needs to stop looking at them.

Tissaia offers an amused huff. “Get up. I have a job for you.”

Yenn's burning cheeks drain of blood at this. She dreads the job. She gets up, averting her eyes from Tissaia. “What is it?”

“Meet Philippa tomorrow at noon in the canteen. She's the woman with the pigtails and the owl tattoo.”

“Right,” Yennefer nodded her head.

As Tissaia was leaving, she threw out over her shoulder, “you have nice tits too.”

Yennefer flushed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest to hide them. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm curious what y'all think Tissaia's reason for being in prison is.

Yenn wakes up nervous the next morning, and proceeds through out the day nervous as well. Tissaia's given her a task to do and she doesn't know if she wants to do it. Or can even do it. All she knows is she has to met Philippa to get her instructions and she's kinda scared of that woman too. Scratch that, she's scared of everyone here. Including Sabrina who lied to her about why she'd been put into prison in the first place! Ugh, honestly, could Yenn trust anyone?

She probably couldn't even trust herself. Her dreams had been filled with nothing but dreams about Tissaia naked, and with eels wrapped around her body. Normally, seeing a person covered in slimy eels that writhed and hissed at Yenn would be considered a nightmare. But she had woken up scared and turned on?

Man, she really needed to get some. Lack of sex was making her start to pick up weird fetishes. Or discover ones she had but had had kept deeply buried.

“I'm so excited,” Sabrina thrilled as they entered the cafeteria, Yenn already able to make out Philippa among the crowd of heads. She towered over all of them, arms crossed over her chest as she waited in line to get her meal. She was built like a tractor. Sturdy and muscular. In fact, did she seem even bigger than yesterday? Like she'd inhaled steroids and grown an extra three inches?

Or maybe Yenn was just feeling small because she was scared.

“Of course you'd be excited,” Yenn gripped. “You get to kill more people.”

Sabrina rolls her eyes. “You act as if I enjoy killing or something like that.”

“Well, do you?” Yenn asks her, truthfully dreading the answer.

“No!” Sabrina exclaims horrified, sliding her tray down. “I love it,” she amends, leaning in and giggling.

Yenn shivers and decides she will be sleeping with three eyes open in her jail cell tonight. She doesn't even have that many eyes but she'll make it happen. She will take no chances with Sabrina.

When they get their meals they go and sit down at the table Philippa is sat at. She has to hunch down a bit to reach her meal and Yenn watches her snarf down the food before speaking.

“So, um,” she coughs delicately, “what does your boss want me to do?”

“Or me? I even got a shiv ready,” Sabrina says, pulling up the sleeve of her orange jumper and showing off the whittled down spoon she tapped to her wrist.

“Jesus!” Yenn jumps, terrified by the sight of it. “How long have you had that?” She's fearing her safety in her cell even more. Can she request a change?

“Oh, just since last night,” Sabrina shrugs like it's no big deal. She rolls her sleeve down as Philippa grunts in acknowledgment of the spoon. “I'll get to you shortly. You have something scheduled for the afternoon,” she says. She turns her attention to Yenn. “I need you to start a fight.”

Yenn feels her stomach drop and she stops chewing on the bread in her mouth. It feels like concrete, sitting there, unable to be swallowed down. “Um....like how?”

“A cafeteria fight. Here, and now,” Philippa says.

Yenn has no idea how she'll do anything like this. “With who? Is there a target?”

Philippa nods her head, looking over at Renfri. Oh she has got to be kidding. Didn't Sabrina warn her about how dangerous Renfri was? And now Philippa wanted her to fight her?

“What did she do to deserve this?”

“None of your business,” Philippa barks out. “Now, are you going to do this or what?”

Yenn forces herself to swallow down the dried food in her mouth and slapping her hands on the top of the table, gets up. “Alright, here goes nothing...” she mumbles, Sabrina giving her an encouraging thumbs up. Scooping up some potato mash in her hands, Yenn goes to the table, intending to start a food fight. As she wakes past Renfri, her legs shaking a bit, she slides the clump of potatoes down her shoulder, where it falls into her lap with a wet plop. The woman, who had been eating, stops, turning her pissed off gaze at Yenn. The three other woman at the table stop their chatter and look at Yenn too.

“What the fuck!” Renfri snarls out, the plastic fork in her hand snapping under her grip.

Yenn turns to her, putting on an act. She's always been told she's a bit of a bitch, why not use that now? “Oh, sorry, didn't see you there,” she shrugs.

“That's it, you're going down bitch!” Renfri snarls and gets up. And honestly, it's kinda sad how easily this fight is about to start. Yenn sucks in a breath and braces herself for the fist coming her way.

* * *

Yenn ends up in the infirmary, which is no surprise, really. She's got swelling on one side of her face and a stitch on her lip. She feels sore all over but she's survived. She's merely lamenting her beautiful body being hurt. She takes great pride in her body because it took hard work and dedication to get it this way. She hadn't always looked so ravishing.

“You should be good to go,” the doctor said, looking over her files on the clipboard as she got off the bed. She didn't feel great but this was prison care. Practically no care at all.

“Yea, thanks,” she mumbled, feeling her jaw ache as she spoke and then left. She hoped Tissaia would be happy with this. When she gets back to her cell, Sabrina is there, whistling to herself and swinging her feet from the top bunk. “So, how you feeling?”

“Like I was in a fight,” Yenn answers.

“Yea, being in a fight will do that to you,” Sabrina comments only so to annoy Yenn.

“How did your mission go?” Yenn asks. “Stab anyone?”

Sabrina pulls a long face. “They had me cleaning out the shower drains.”

Yenn nearly chokes on the laugh she tries to hold in. “What? Why?”

Sabrina shrugs. “I don't know. I guess to see my dedication to what nasty acts I'd do for them. I was hoping I'd get to stab some things. I'm good at that,” she pouted a bit and Yenn rolled her eyes. Yea, Sabrina was a bit _too_ good at that.

“I wonder if we're in the gang now,” Yenn comments, flopping down on her bottom bunk and wincing in pain.

“I don't know. I hope so. If they make me unclog toilets next I will be so pissed off,” Sabrina comments and Yenn would trade fist fights for shit fights any day. At least it wouldn't hurt her.

The next day they meet up with Tissaia at lunch, entering the circle of orange that protects her as she sits on the lunch table and reads a book. Today she's also smoking. Yennefer didn't know she smoked.

She doesn't bother to look up as Sabrina and Yenn awkwardly wait for her to acknowledge them. She instead takes her time, finishing the page she's on and then closes the book softly, flicking ash off of her cigarette onto Yenn's shoes. Yenn frowns but doesn't comment on it. Tissaia notices the look and smirks briefly, as if satisfied she annoyed Yenn, before she moves on, affecting a cool demeanor.

“Ladies, I have heard of your work. Yenn, you were given a task and you did it,” she said evasively, eyeing Yenn's new looks. “Good job,” Tissaia said. “Shame about your face. It was pretty.”

“The doctor said it's a hairline cheekbone fracture and that it'll heal fine. Provided I don't go picking fights anymore,” Yennefer said a bit more sharply than she meant to.

Tissaia smirked. “He's right. Stop getting into fights, Yennefer.”

Yennefer made a noise. She'd been asked to do it! It's not like she did it on purpose.

“And Sabrina, good job with your task,” she added on.

“I could do even better on other tasks. Tasks more suited to my particular skillset,” she said, winking not at all suitably.

“Yes, I'll keep that in mind,” Tissaia said with the air of someone who wouldn't. “Since you're in, I'm giving you a code name. You'll use it when you're around the gang,” Tissaia said. “Sabrina, yours is Witch.” Yenn held back a laugh. Like Sabrina the Teenage Witch! “Yenn's yours is Purple Kush.” Yenn did not find that as funny. Why was she named after weed?

“What's your nickname,” Yenn asked before she could stop her own mouth. Oops, maybe she shouldn't have asked that. Tissaia gave her a look over, as if deciding how to best dismember Yenn before she answered.

“Rectoress.”

Yenn had no idea what that meant. Although it did sound a lot like wrecked her ass. She quickly decided it didn't matter because she didn't want to get on Tissaia's bad side by asking more.

“Ladies, welcome officially to the Aretuza gang.”

And that was how Yenn got herself into a prison gang.

* * *

“What do you think will happen now that we're in the gang?” Yenn asked, more for the sake of calming her overactive mind. It had been a week since and Yenn's wounds were healing nicely.

“Well, we'll probably do gang stuff. Smack bitches, get hoes, and kick it with the bros,” Sabrina said.

“Please don't ever say that again to me,” Yenn shuddered.

They go to sit down and eat their meal together, but have not gotten far in when Renfri is striding up to their table, with three girls from her gang behind her. They've all got scowls on their face and sleeves rolled up. They stand behind Sabrina but in front of Yenn.

“Yenny, we've got some business,” Renfri said. “You thought I would just pummel in your face and call it even for you throwing potato on me?”

“Um, yes?” Yenn questions. “I didn't even get to punch you a single time. You beat the shit out of me for it. I think you clearly should be satisfied by the revenge you got.” Her face still has phantom pains from where it's been hit.

“You don't know me then. I won't stop until I get your head on a spike-” she cuts herself off and stops when a shadow towers over Yenn. Great, who is it now to air their grievances about her? But when she turns it's only Philippa, arms crossed over her chest.

“Excuse us, Renfri, but you're messing with two Aretuza gang members,” she spoke coolly.

Renfri looked like she was abut to choke on her shock. “What!?”

“They're in the gang, if that wasn't clear enough.”

“But-but, I applied to be in the gang and you never let me!” she shrilled out, sounding like a child.

Philippa shrugs one shoulder, not giving a shit. “Obviously, you weren't qualified and they are.”

Renfri lets out a scream of pure frustration and stomps off, her girls following her.

Philippa watches her go with amusement. “She was so upset, she had to start her own gang to try and rub it in our faces how much fun she's having without us. Truthfully, we don't even notice her on most days. Now come, you're expected to sit at our table from now on.”

Yenn and Sabrina pick up their trays and follow Philippa to their new table.

Perhaps there are some perks to being in a prison gang after all.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been three months since Yenn had joined the Aretuza gang (who by the way, their gang motto was 'Slippery like Eels, motherfucker'- don't ask, because Yennefer didn't know why) and life was going okay. No one bothered her anymore in the hallways and she didn't even have to do anything weird or scary for the gang past her first initiation.

It almost felt like the good days would come to the end when some gang war or something broke out in prison, or when Tissaia asked her to do something.

But what really confused Yenn was the oddly flirty vibe she and Tissaia had ever since the time they saw each other's tits in the bathroom. And Yennefer wasn't hating it. In fact, she kinda felt flattered that Tissaia, a dangerous and powerful individual, was giving her attention. That is, if Tissaia was actually flirting with her. Because Yennefer wasn't entirely sure it was actually happening or if her hormones were just making her super horny and thinking that Tissaia was.

But, her thoughts were soon assuaged (if it could really be called that?) when Tissaia came up to her and invited her over for lunch, just the two of them at a single table. Yenn had no idea what this was for, and she was nervously sweating out her orange jumper. Sabrina watched enviously, no doubt wishing she was in Yenn's place. Yenn would gladly trade it, if only so she wouldn't feel like she was about to either puke from nerves or sing from being the sole recipient of Tissaia's attention after days of sultry looks across the prison yard.

“Hello, Yennefer. How are you?” Tissaia coolly spoke, always managing to look so put together and calm despite any situation.

“Good? How are you?” It's surprisingly normal. Yenn didn't know what she had expected.

“Good. How was your day?”

“Good.” Yenn fiddles with her fork as she watches Tissaia forgo her dinner and munch on the ice cream cone given.

“Do you like murder?” Tissaia asked. And oop- there it was. The unnormal stuff.

“Um, what sort of a question is that?” Yenn asked, slightly uncomfortably.

“A valid one. I need to know if you like murder or not.”

Yenn felt like this was a trick question. If she said no, would she get kicked out of the gang? If she said yes, would Tissaia hate her for it? So, Yenn blurted out the only thing she could think of.

“I like you.”

Tissaia arched her brows as Yenn silently berated herself and turned into her best rendition of a tomato. “That's very flattering. I like you too.” She leaned in and Yenn wondered if she was about to be shanked with the end of the ice cream cone or kissed within an inch of her life in front of everyone. “I'd like it even better if you and I could get to know each other better after this date.”

“Date?” Yenn blinks and echoes. “Date?!” she nearly squeaks out now.

“Yes. You didn't know this was a date?” Tissaia blinks at her.

“Um, no? We're kinda in prison,” Yenn pointed out, hoping she wasn't insulting Tissaia.

“Exactly. Which means this is probably as close to a date as we'll get. I even had my girls reserve this table for us. Do you know how hard it is to get an empty table for two? I even had them sneak us out some dessert,” she twirls the ice cream in her hand around.

“So ice cream isn't a daily thing here?”

“No.”

Another disappointing fact about prison. “I appreciate the effort you put into this.”

“So, then I take it it's a yes for the after date stuff.”

* * *

They end up going on a romantic stroll through the prison yard. Or as romantic as they can get it, with someone beating the shit out of someone else in the corner. But Tissaia has yet again made some effort into making this nice. She has two gang members walking by their side, carrying an image of the ocean, while a third one plays ocean sounds. So it looks like they're walking on a beach, watching the sunset. A fourth gang members sprinkles sand all over Yennefer's feet to give that true beach experience. She could go without the sand to be honest.

At the end of the yard there was more sand and a blanket spread on top. An umbrella was plopped in and opened to give them shade. They both settled down on this and Tissaia produced some sunscreen. “Would you like some?”

“Uh, no, I'm good,” Yennefer waved it off.

They sat there, enjoying the fake ocean view which was now parked in front of them.

“What...what was your life like before you came here?” Yennefer asked, genuinely curious. She didn't know if she should ask this or not. Would Tissaia answer her?

“It wasn't very interesting,” Tissaia said. “I used to sit behind a desk all day and just fill out taxes and reports, and collect data. All very menial.”

“What lead you here?”

“I grew tired of my boss,” Tissaia recalled, eyes distant as the fake ocean waves crashed. “Grew tired of my job and decided to say fuck it, one day. I struck back at everything that irritated me and forged a new path in life. Then I ended up getting caught and stuck here. But I wasn't going to go down so easily. I was going to make the most of my time here. I only have five years of my sentence left, and then I'll be free.”

“Will you go back to doing what it was you did before?”

“You mean crime, or my boring job?”

“Both.”

Tissaia gave Yennefer a side eyed view. “You are awfully curious about this. Are you sure you're not an undercover cop?”

Yennefer's jaw dropped open and she quickly back pedaled. “I-no, I'm not! I promise! I just wanted to get to know you better!”

Tissaia let's one corner of her mouth curl up. “And what about you, Yennefer? Witch of Vengerberg. I have heard a lot about how you got here, mainly from Sabrina. But I don't know much about you other than your fire fetish.”

“I don't have a fire fetish,” Yennefer protested, though she was relieved Tissaia had only seemed to be joking about the cop part. “It just seemed the most effective way of doing things.”

“What did you want to do with your life before you got stuck here?” Tissaia asked.

“I....I don't know, actually,” Yennefer said, looking down at the threads on the blanket. “I was a model, briefly. Before I became too hooked on drugs and had to leave for my own health. International modeling can turn dark real quick. Then, I tried to put my useless journalism degree to work. I was supposed to work for a magazine but then I found out about the whole real estate practices due to my digging around and decide an expose wouldn't be enough to make him pay. It turned out I was the one to pay in the end,” she said with a wry grin.

“Would you change anything at all if you could?”

Yennefer contemplated this for a bit. “I would....skip the drugs, that's for sure. And maybe not land myself in prison.”

“Maybe it's still not too late,” Tissaia said, an odd glimmer in her eyes. Like she knew something she wasn't telling Yennefer. Before Yennefer could ask, the prison yard bell rang, signaling the end of their impromptu date. Tissaia stood up and helped Yennefer to her feet. “I enjoyed spending time with you today,” Tissaia said, as they filled onto a line to head back inside.

“I did too,” Yennefer confirms because she knows that there is still so much to know about Tissaia, and though the woman does scare her somewhat, Yennefer thinks it's kinda hot.

“I would like to do this another time with you,” Tissaia answers and Yennefer nods her head in agreement. It was nice the effort Tissaia went to get her goons to make it nice for them.

They walk back to their cells and Yennefer flops down onto her bunk bed, smiling to herself. Maybe things won't be so bad here. She slowly drifts off into a nap and when she awakes, it's time for dinner. Sabrina is on the bunk above her, smiling down.

“Someone had a good dream. Was it about Tissaia?” Sabrina asks.

Yennefer had been in fact, dreaming about Tissaia, but she didn't need anyone to know. That and how she dreamed of being kissed by the older woman. Would they kiss on their next date? Yennefer wondered and was looking forward to it.

“I do not dream about Tissaia!” Yenn denied, flushing red.

“Oh yea? You forget I sleep right above you,” Sabrina waggled her brows before making a kissy face. “Oh Rectoress I want you to wrap me with your eels and spank me like a bad girl.”

“I do- I do not say that!” Yenn flushed even harder.

Sabrina only cackled harder in laughter. So hard that she fell off of the bunk bed.

“Ow,” she complained.

“Serves you right,” Yennefer muttered as she got up. “That's what you get for bullying me.”

Sabrina got up as they both left to get dinner. “Do you know if the gang is planning anything?” Yennefer asked as they slid their trays down.

“Not that I know of. But you should. You spent the whole day with Tissaia,” Sabrina said.

“We didn't talk about gang stuff, but about personal stuff,” Yennefer pointed out.

“Man, you're so luckyyyyy,” Sabrina sighed out.

“Maybe I am,” Yennefer said cockily as they sat down at the Aretuza gang table. And as she ate her meal quickly, catching Tissaia's eye over it, she smiled back. Perhaps she could make the most out of this prison stay. She was only going to be here for two years so a relationship would not be a smart idea. But she did like the older woman. She was attractive and sharp and Yennefer wanted to know more about her. And it wasn't like she would fall in love with Tissaia right?

* * *

_Two weeks later~_

“Fuck!” Yennefer screamed out when she realized she was in love with Tissaia.

How had it even happened?

Maybe it had something to do with that wonderful kiss they had shared. It all started about a week ago...


	4. Chapter 4

It had happened out of the blue, the way Yenn caught feelings for Tissaia. All she knows was that one evening, they were in the prison yard, chatting as usual, just the two of them while everyone else kept out of their way.

The sky had been overcast, a color that matched Tissaia's stormy eyes. It had started to drizzle and thunder rumbled as the bad weather approached. Yennefer flipped it off because it had ruined her date with Tissaia. They had one every day now, but still. Yennefer didn't like to share her time with Tissaia or have it cut short.

But instead of being similarly irritated, Tissaia had just smiled, grabbed Yennefer by the wrist and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss her. The kiss was brief and chaste but as soon as it happened, rain broke loose and started pouring on them. They kissed during it and when they pulled apart most of the yard was emptied out, and they had soaked through.

Yennefer'e eyes were wide. Wow, she had gotten the leader of a notorious gang to kiss her. Tissaia De Vries, had kissed her. Yennefer didn't know how to act. Or what to think. Tissaia saw her dumbfounded look and smirked, looking cool as ever even with rain plastering her hair to her face.

“I think I made you a bit wet,” she said cockily, referring to Yennefer's soaked clothing, but it could be taken two ways.

And well, things had just happened after that. Yennefer couldn't stop herself from falling more deeply in with Tissaia. Was this what they meant by joining gangs was dangerous? Because of hot gang leaders seducing people to do crime for them? Because shit, Yennefer is gay and she's willing to do crime for Tissaia no questions asked.

When Yennefer comes back to her cell, she's a bit dryer but when Sabrina sees her, she smirks, as if she knows what's happened. Naturally, Yennefer blurts it out because she can't keep it a secret. “Tissaia kissed me,” she says, still in slight shock.

“Yea, I can tell,” Sabrina snickered unkindly from the top bunk. “You wet through your uniform.” She roared with laughter as Yennefer set her hands on her hips, unimpressed.

“It was raining outside!” she protested, annoyed with the blonde woman.

“Sure it was,” Sabrina winked before laughing again.

Yennefer sat on the bottom bunk with a wet squelch. “I hate this place,” she said childishly and crossing her arms over her chest. Sabrina only laughed harder above her.

* * *

The thing about being gay enough to do crime for Tissaia, is that Yennefer actually has to do it about a week later.

“You want me to start another cafeteria riot?” Yennefer questions Tissaia who nods her head seriously.

“Renfri has been acting up, trying to take our tables from us,” Philippa adds on, grimacing, arm muscles bulging as she envisions beating Renfri to a pulp. “We need to start up a riot so we can take this time to beat up her little crew and establish dominance.”

“Sure....” Yennefer says unsurely. “Um, just give me a bit of time to think of how?”

“No, we need this today,” Tissaia says seriously.

“I wish you'd told me earlier. It's a bit hard working under pressure,” Yennefer rubbed her temples, looking over the cafeteria to see how she could get a riot underway without having to get punched in the face again.

She focused on the kitchen appliances behind the glass barrier. Hmmmm, that could do. All she would need is for one of the kitchen staff to slip up. She rose out of her seat and hurried over.

* * *

The prison smelt like burnt ash for three days straight, but at least Tissaia got what she needed and was able to beat up Renfri for daring to take her tables. Not like they had names on them, but whatever. Yennefer still didn't understand gang politics.

Proud of herself for doing a good job at being bad, Yennefer was lying on her bunk, listening to Sabrina's snoring above her. Moonlight filtered in through the barred window. She longed for the outside world. She longed to be free. How many more years did she have left for her sentence? Probably more than Tissaia had left to serve. What would she do if Tissaia left?

She had no idea, honestly.

She sits up, startled, when the cell doors slip open and Tissaia walks inside. Like she has the authority to do something like this. One of the prison guards let her in and Tissaia jerks her head, indicating for Yennefer to get up. Yennefer is worried. What is this about? Is she in more trouble for what she did during the riots? She had only lit the place lightly on fire.

Which the prison should be used to by now.

It had surely seen worse things.

The cell doors closed behind her and Tissaia, Yennefer and the guard walked down to an empty hallway, free of cameras and of inmate cells. The guard then left them, telling Tissaia, “you've got five minutes,” and then walking off.

“Okay, what is going on?” Yennefer asked. “Are we gonna make out here or-?”

“As much as I would love that,” Tissaia's eyebrow went up. Yennefer didn't like that look. “That's not what we're here for.”

Oh oh. So it was for something bad. Or maybe it was because Tissaia wanted Yennefer to do even more crime for her.

“How did you even get out of your cell.” Yennefer deflected, trying to buy herself time, but what for she didn't know. She wasn't scared of Tissaia, hadn't been ever since their second date, just nervous on the unknown.

“I have my ways,” Tissaia said, edging closer to Yenn who edged back. But there was nowhere to run from Tissaia. Not if Yennefer wanted to alert the whole prison to her escaped status. “Now, tell me, how did you start that cafeteria fire?”

“Um...matches?” Yennefer stammered. She could not have anyone know the truth. How had Tissaia even know? She must be sharper than given credit for.

“Bullshit, Yennefer. Bullshit,” Tissaia spat, her blue gray eyes hard as diamonds. “No one has access to matches. You had nothing in your hands. I was watching you carefully. It just happened.”

“Um....” Yennefer began to flounder.

Tissaia gave a crooked smile to Yennefer. “I should have given you the nickname of Yennefer the witch rather than calling Sabrina the witch. Because you know what I think-”

Yennefer swallowed thickly. Oh, this was not going well. Tissaia was close to discovering her secret. So Yenn did the only thing she could think of. She kissed Tissaia.

She cupped Tissaia's face in her own and kissed her hard, hard enough to spin her around and press her into the wall behind them. Tissaia shut up for a good while before Yennefer pulled away when she needed to breathe. Tissaia looked mildly stunned, but not upset. She licked her lips, trying to clear her throat to speak when the guard barged in. “Alright, five minutes are up, back to your cells.”

And there was no more time to chat on this.

Yennefer let out a relieved sigh when she got back to her cell and flopped down. She had averted the danger for now, but she could not let Tissaia figure out the truth.

* * *

This soon became a common occurrence. Once a week, Tissaia would break Yennefer out of her cell at night and try to pry about Yennefer's past or how she did that fire without even being next to it, and Yennfer would distract her by kissing her. The kisses were nice, the interrogations were not. But so far Yennefer had bought herself time with the kisses that slowly grew more and more heated until one time the guard who worked with Tissaia had come to find them with their hands down their shirts.

He had cleared his throat and they had jumped apart so fast like they guilty teenagers and not hardened criminals.

Eventually, Tissaia came up with a countermeasure to Yennefer's seduction. She came one day, wearing a Freddy hockey mask. There would be no way for Yennefer to kiss her now. Though Tissaia did look adorably murderous.

“Listen,” Tissaia spoke plainly as Yennefer pouted at this unfair tactic. “I know you don't want to tell me the truth, but you can trust me.” Casting furtive glances to make sure no one was in earshot, Tissaia cleared her throat and confessed, “I'm not actually a criminal. I'm working undercover to bust some bad stuff going on.”

“You're undercover?” Yennefer gaped, shocked by this. Tissaia hadn't struck her as a criminal, and she certainly did not strike her as a cop. “Why'd the police put you in here? Who are you here for?”

“I don't have to answer any of your questions, Yenn. And if I were you, I'd stop asking.” Out of nowhere, Tissaia pulled out a shank and held it to Yenn's throat.

“Right. Forgotten. Who are you again?” Yennefer said, sweating a bit under it.

“That's better,” Tissaia said, putting away the shank. “Now that I've told you my big secret, surely you can trust me not to tell yours.”

“Well....I kinda of never agreed to do that-”

The shank came flying out again and Yennefer chuckled stiffly. “I'm joking, sheesh.” Tissaia put the shank away more slowly this time and Yennefer took a deep breath before speaking. She had never told anyone this. The one person she had, had called her insane and stopped talking to her. Tissaia might do the same, but Yennefer no longer had the option to refuse. “I'm not sure when this all started...” she began.


	5. Chapter 5

“I thought it was the drugs at first,” Yennefer spoke in a hushed voice, eyes distant and remembering her past. “That I had taken too many of them and that they'd fucked something up with my brain. But....it wasn't them. When I quit modeling I also quit drugs, because I felt I was spiraling out of control. But quitting drugs didn't make it better. It only made it worse. I made things break without meaning to when I was angry. Fire seemed to especially pop up when I was around. And there were other unexplainable things. It caused my friends to fear me. I told one of them about what was happening to me and she thought I was crazy.” Yennefer shook her head. “And whatever this thing is that I have, it got in the way of my normal life. And then I saw the real estate practices and I thought, maybe I can do good with my weird ability for once, instead of ruining things around me. But the fires got out of control and I couldn't stop them.” She clenched her hand into a fist, regretful.

Tissaia took her fist into her smaller hands. “But you're not crazy. You have magic,” she said this so seriously that Yennefer couldn't even laugh it off.

“Magic?” she echoed.

“Yes,” Tissaia confirmed with a nod of her head. “Magic. It's real and it exists and you're not the only one to have it.” The guard's footsteps are approaching. They've run out of time. “We'll talk on this later. But not now.”

Yennefer nods her head numbly, still trying to comprehend all this. When she gets back to her cell, she lies awake all night long, just trying to understand all this. Magic is real? She never would have guessed, but she accepts this, because to not do so would mean she's crazy and she knows she's not.

* * *

Tissaia acts normal around Yennefer, as if nothing happened between them. Yennefer acts the same way. Though on the inside she is burning up with questions on all of this. She just wants to know about her powers. About how she got them. About how to control them. But she knows there is hardly a way for them to speak on this in prison.

And then one day she finds a note on her bunk, in what can only be Tissaia's cursive writing. _You'll be home free soon._

Home? How would Yennefer be going home soon? Was Tissaia finding a way to bust her out? She was so confused. But she crumpled up the note and flushed it away. Best not to leave evidence around.

Naturally, Yennefer doesn't get a chance to ask about this. And Tissaia doesn't drop by for their nightly meeting. This worries Yennefer. Had she said something wrong? Done something to offend her?

“Ugh, can you stop moping around? I can feel the depress from up here,” Sabrina complains and Yennefer punches Sabrina's mattress, contemplating setting it on fire.

“Don't be a dick!” Sabrina shouts back down at her and Yennefer sighs out and tries to sleep. But sleep does not come.

Two days later, she's free. It's all so shocking she can barely register it. But she tries to spot Tissaia's head in the prison yard. But she's busy with something else right now.

“What did you say about me?” Tissaia said, and though her voice was even, there was an undercurrent of tension in it.

“I called you short.” Stated Renfri, always cruising for a bruising.

“I. Am. Not. Short,” Tissaia said, smiling even as her teeth were gritted. And then her goons surrounded Renfri's and Yennefer assumed a fight had broken out. She wouldn't know, wouldn't even get a chance to say thank you to Tissaia because she was being shoved out.

She finds herself standing outside the prison, with only a backpack full of water and clothing in it. She is lost, simple as that. She doesn't know where to go from here. She begins to hike the long way back to the nearest town and she is tired and thirsty by the time the hot desert sun has begun to set.

She reaches in for water, and a note flops out. It's another one from Tissaia. _You'll be in safe hands now. Just continue walking to town. A friend will be waiting for you at the border._ Huh, how did Tissaia know all this?

Thinking better than to question all this, she keeps waking and though she wants nothing more but to sleep as night falls, she powers on through and comes to a sign that finally says she's made it to town. And by the sign stands a woman. There's no telling how long she's waited there, and she's got on a bright blue cloak that obscures her face. When Yennefer approaches, dusty and aching and about to fall asleep on her feet, the woman takes down her hood.

She looks to be in her thirties and has curly brown hair. “Hello, Yennefer. Tissaia has told me a lot about you. My name is Triss Merigold and I'm here to escort you to a safe house. I'm part of Tissaia's people,” she explains.

“Cool,” Yennefer waves this all off. “Mind if I take a nap first? I'm so tired.”

“Of course. I have a car waiting nearby. Feel free to rest there,” Triss says and they walk down two hills before the RV shows up. Yennefer is so tired she doesn't care who Triss is at this point. She gratefully tugs off her dirty clothing, showers in the tiny shower, and then falls asleep on the pull out bed.

Yennefer wakes up to the smell of bacon cooking. Her stomach rumbles loudly in need of food and Triss hears it. “There's enough for two, don't worry,” she chuckles. She sets the table and Yennefer joins, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

“We're close by to the safe house. You'll stay there for the time being.”

“Why?” Yennefer asks. “What is going on?”

“Tissaia insisted you don't get exposed to all use mages at once. At least not without her explaining some things first.”

“But she's in prison right now.” Yennefer makes this out around a mouthful of bacon.

“Not for long. She's almost done with her work and should be able to join you for a little bit.”

“Yea, explaining things would help a lot,” Yennefer surmises. “Like why do I have these powers.”

“Some of us are just born with more chaos than others and-” Triss stops herself when she can see the confused furrow in Yennefer's brow. “Nevermind. Just don't burn anything down and sit tight. There's enough food and water there to last you a while. If you have trouble with anything, just call me on this phone.” Triss set a burner phone down on the table in front of them.

“Why is Tissaia helping me like this? How did she even get me out of prison?”

“Those are questions for her and not for me,” Triss stood up from her empty plate. “But...I have a feeling Tissaia really likes you. And it's rare for her to find another mage so easily.”

* * *

Yennefer settles down into the safe house. It's just a small room in a hotel but it's better than nothing she supposes. There's food and drinks, even some alcohol and Yennefer stays in all day, watching TV on the small grainy TV screen.

She thinks she's about to lose her mind from boredom, even taking to calling Triss at odd hours of the day to entertain herself, when there's a knock on her door. Boredom has destroyed her ability to be cautious and she opens it up without even looking through the peephole.

Tissaia is on the other side and Yennefer almost doesn't recognize her. She's got on a blue cloak as well and her hair is back in two braids. “Tissaia....” Yennefer breathes out and Tissaia comes in.

“I suspect you have a lot of questions,” she said, taking off her cloak. Underneath she wore leather riding pants and a proper top with a necktie. It made her look very 19th century. Yennefer found she liked it.

“Yea, like how do the cops know about magic?”

“I don't work for the cops,” Tissaia said as if this should be obvious. “I work for a special group called the Brotherhood. We are all mages like you, who go about fighting injustice our own way and in situations were normal people might not be able to.”

“A crime fighting group of mages?” Yennefer blinked. This was not going where she had expected it to.

“We'd love to have you. You seem to have a lot of magic potential and have no idea how to use it,” Tissaia continued. “Of course, you don't have to join, but...it would be nice if you could. You could finally feel that purpose you've been searching for.”

That did sound nice. But Yennefer had to think about this more. This was a huge decision to undertake. And she'd just gotten out of prison.

“Could I have some time?”

“Naturally. Take all the time you need,” Tissaia answered. “But, do remember, I will be waiting for you there.”

“As my girlfriend?” Yennefer asked hopefully and Tissaia smiled.

“Yes, as your girlfriend.”

And you know, Yennefer was gay, but this time maybe she'd fight crime instead of commit it.


End file.
